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Eating More Veggies - Healthy Eating Week 2020

This week is Healthy Eating Week! Winter's setting in and it's tempting to reach for a hot chocolate with loads of cream (at least, I know I'm tempted) but as the new academic year begins, I want to start as I mean to go on, prioritise being healthy, and eat some veggies! I for one don't usually hit my 5 a day target, and when I do it's usually 4 fruits and 1 veg :erm: even though vegetables are important as they contain lots of minerals and vitamins that we need, plus lots of fibre :drool:

I've put together some tips that I can hopefully follow over the next year and eat more veg :yep:

- snack on veggies! Instead of buying crisps (or, realistically, alongside them) I'll get some snackable vegetables, like pre-cut carrot sticks, red pepper, or cucumber. Plus, no need to cook them so all I have to do is get to the fridge - I can manage that :dumbells:

- buy frozen! I get put off veg because I only use, say, a bit of spinach when cooking for one and then the whole bag goes off :cry: But if I get frozen veggies, they should stay good for longer and I can be more flexible! Plus, they're often more nutitious as they're frozen straight after being picked :woo:

- learn to cook with veggies! Stir fries are great as you can add whatever vegetables you have and it's yummy (although the quantites of soy sauce I use might cancel out any health benefits...), as are pasta sauces, stews and soups, and curries. I'm going to try adding extra veg to recipes I already know, so that I'm eating more without that awful 'must eat side veg' feeling! If you're a carnivore, you could try replacing meat with veg in a recipe you know, too.

My favourite veggie stir fry is this one:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sachas_stir-fry_17077 :eating: It can take forever to chop everything so I tend to do it really roughly :biggrin:

You can get more information here
https://www.nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/hew/varyyourveg.html but I'd love to hear your tips, tricks, and most importantly delicious veg laden recipes!

Check out the hub thread for some more healthy eating content, too :biggrin:
(edited 3 years ago)
Love this! :biggrin: I'm a fan of celery and/or carrot sticks and houmous as a snack or alongside my lunch. Really easy and super yummy. Highly recommend the Tesco houmous, the Asda one is a bit sloppy :hand:

I love making use of frozen veggies too. I mainly use frozen diced onion (so that I don't attack my eyes when chopping one fresh! :lol:), but I also like frozen green beans and broccoli too. When I was at uni, I made regular use of those bags of frozen mixed veg you can get (peas, sweetcorn, carrots and beans). A cheap way to get some veggies! :yep:

When cooking things like spag bol, cottage pie etc. I tend to add some grated carrot and diced celery for extra crunch and nutrition. If you do have lots of fresh veggies starting to go off, make a mouldy veg soup! A lot nicer than it sounds. :laugh: Chop everything up, put into a saucepan with some stock of your choice and mush it together. Serve with a crusty roll and you're set! :yum:
I should eat more veg! I'm not awful with it but I used to be better. I need to get better at planning meals with veg more otherwise I find the veg goes out of date/off quite fast. Maybe some batch cooking including freezing meals. I do like utilising frozen veg for this reason :yep:
I'll guzzle more veggies that are deep fried and smothered in either cheese or chocolate. :tongue:
BBJF.jpg
Woof Woof! :cookie:
Original post by DrawTheLine
Love this! :biggrin: I'm a fan of celery and/or carrot sticks and houmous as a snack or alongside my lunch. Really easy and super yummy. Highly recommend the Tesco houmous, the Asda one is a bit sloppy :hand:

I love making use of frozen veggies too. I mainly use frozen diced onion (so that I don't attack my eyes when chopping one fresh! :lol:), but I also like frozen green beans and broccoli too. When I was at uni, I made regular use of those bags of frozen mixed veg you can get (peas, sweetcorn, carrots and beans). A cheap way to get some veggies! :yep:

When cooking things like spag bol, cottage pie etc. I tend to add some grated carrot and diced celery for extra crunch and nutrition. If you do have lots of fresh veggies starting to go off, make a mouldy veg soup! A lot nicer than it sounds. :laugh: Chop everything up, put into a saucepan with some stock of your choice and mush it together. Serve with a crusty roll and you're set! :yum:

:ta:
I'm weird, I like just eating carrot sicks with no hummus or anything! :biggrin:
The veg soup sounds like a really good way to use up veg and delicious too :yep: I've never gotten into soups before, I should start!
Original post by BurstingBubbles
I should eat more veg! I'm not awful with it but I used to be better. I need to get better at planning meals with veg more otherwise I find the veg goes out of date/off quite fast. Maybe some batch cooking including freezing meals. I do like utilising frozen veg for this reason :yep:

I need to learn how to plan meals and batch cook before uni for sure I think :biggrin: I always resist it because 'what if I change my mind later', but it sounds so handy :yep:
Original post by londonmyst
I'll guzzle more veggies that are deep fried and smothered in either cheese or chocolate. :tongue:
BBJF.jpg
Woof Woof! :cookie:

:lol: Better than nothing :wink:
'Bottom of the fridge' soup is filling, healthy and cheap. If you roast the veg first it tastes better.
I make a lot of soups for lunches as I am not a fan of sandwiches and it is getting a bit cold for salads
Original post by becausethenight
:ta:
I'm weird, I like just eating carrot sicks with no hummus or anything! :biggrin:
The veg soup sounds like a really good way to use up veg and delicious too :yep: I've never gotten into soups before, I should start!


My personal favourite soup is butternut squash.

- Butternut squash, cut into chunks
- 2-3 medium sized carrots, cut into chunks
- 4-5 medium sized baby potatoes (or 2 big potatoes), cut into chunks
- 1 diced onion
- A knob of butter/marge
- 2 veg stock pots
- About 1l of boiling water
- Salt, pepper, herbs etc to season
- Crusty rolls

Fry the onion in the butter for a few minutes, add the vegetables. Add the stock pots to the boiling water and stir until dissolved, then add to the veg. Add the seasonings and then let simmer for half an hour. If the veg is cooked, blend it all up and then taste. Add more seasoning if you want, and then serve. Makes around 3-5 portions. So yummy and filling! Can be adapted to whatever veg you want of course. I've tried it with parsnip before too which is lovely.
Original post by ReadingMum
'Bottom of the fridge' soup is filling, healthy and cheap. If you roast the veg first it tastes better.
I make a lot of soups for lunches as I am not a fan of sandwiches and it is getting a bit cold for salads

:ta: How long does it take to roast the veg? There are forty of us to a kitchen in halls so I want to be in and out rapidly :lol:
Original post by DrawTheLine
My personal favourite soup is butternut squash.

- Butternut squash, cut into chunks
- 2-3 medium sized carrots, cut into chunks
- 4-5 medium sized baby potatoes (or 2 big potatoes), cut into chunks
- 1 diced onion
- A knob of butter/marge
- 2 veg stock pots
- About 1l of boiling water
- Salt, pepper, herbs etc to season
- Crusty rolls

Fry the onion in the butter for a few minutes, add the vegetables. Add the stock pots to the boiling water and stir until dissolved, then add to the veg. Add the seasonings and then let simmer for half an hour. If the veg is cooked, blend it all up and then taste. Add more seasoning if you want, and then serve. Makes around 3-5 portions. So yummy and filling! Can be adapted to whatever veg you want of course. I've tried it with parsnip before too which is lovely.

:drool: That sounds lovely, I'll have to give it a go :yep: Think it would work with pumpkin?
Original post by becausethenight
:ta: How long does it take to roast the veg? There are forty of us to a kitchen in halls so I want to be in and out rapidly :lol:

Soup isn't really a quick thing to make - but you make several portions at a time and just have to nuke the rest on other days. It needs around 30 mins in oven - chop into chunks, lightly oil, put the harder veg (butternut squash, carrots, other root veg) in for 10 mins then add onions, peppers, cauli, whatever needs eating up for the remaining 20 mins. It doesn't have to be fully cooked through as you are going to put in a pan with stock for a while afterwards - the caramelisation on the surface of the roasted veg just make it taste better.
Original post by becausethenight
:drool: That sounds lovely, I'll have to give it a go :yep: Think it would work with pumpkin?


Definitely! That would be yummy
Original post by ReadingMum
Soup isn't really a quick thing to make - but you make several portions at a time and just have to nuke the rest on other days. It needs around 30 mins in oven - chop into chunks, lightly oil, put the harder veg (butternut squash, carrots, other root veg) in for 10 mins then add onions, peppers, cauli, whatever needs eating up for the remaining 20 mins. It doesn't have to be fully cooked through as you are going to put in a pan with stock for a while afterwards - the caramelisation on the surface of the roasted veg just make it taste better.

Thank you, that makes sense :smile: I'm guessing it would take an hour or so all in so require military grade planning!
Once you pop in the oven just set a timer and get out of the way for a bit. After a few years of cooking you realise that almost everything can be cooked at 180 so other people can use the oven at the same time for their stuff.
Original post by ReadingMum
Once you pop in the oven just set a timer and get out of the way for a bit. After a few years of cooking you realise that almost everything can be cooked at 180 so other people can use the oven at the same time for their stuff.

Exactly! If in doubt, whack it on 180 and hope for the best!
Original post by ReadingMum
Once you pop in the oven just set a timer and get out of the way for a bit. After a few years of cooking you realise that almost everything can be cooked at 180 so other people can use the oven at the same time for their stuff.

:lol: I'll remember that!
We're not allowed to leave cooking unattended (sensibly lol) so I'll take my lecture notes or more realistically go on TSR :biggrin:

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